The study, published online in Neurology, found that the most physically active participants did not experience a reduction in their movement abilities, even when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated they had high levels of age-related brain damage.

"These results underscore the importance of efforts to encourage a more active lifestyle in older people to prevent movement problems, which is a major public health challenge," says study author Debra A. Fleischman, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL.